Chapter 160 Servo Skull Discovers the Base, Prelude to War
People spend more energy avoiding fear than they spend fighting for what they want.
————Dan Brown
The hot wind and the dust of the wilderness always accompany the cleaning operations of the Imperial Guard, but those orcs seem to have no command, but they are very good at escaping. They have escape routes planned in advance, and they also have additional modifications such as jets or turbochargers. However, Alan Bayer is not sure what kind of burning material makes those orcs run at extremely fast speeds. Maybe it is excrement. Those guys can do anything.
After all, the smell was almost unbearable, and the strange black mist had the effect of hiding the view of the vehicles behind. Looking at the garbage truck rumbling in front of him, Alan Bayer was a little irritated.
"Give it to me, I'll shoot." The Salamander Commander tank is an imperial war engine equipped with storm bombs and promethium flamethrowers. Its main purpose is not anti-armor, but reconnaissance and clearing of infantry, but Ai Lambel was no ordinary person. He held his breath and concentrated while the storm bomb was held down by his superhuman arm strength and fired.
If you want to evaluate the feeling, it is stable. Even if it is set up on the car, few people can hold down the shot and shoot the barrel red. You must know that this thing is a heavy explosive bomb!
Bang bang bang, bang bang bang, a roar like thunder exploded in the wilderness, and other members of the reconnaissance vehicle crew were already chatting away. "The leader is performing stunts again." The driver said casually as he looked at the narrow field of view of the vehicle, where the heavy explosive bombs fell like raindrops and kicked up dust.
The gunner who took a rest rubbed his biceps. He looked at the leader's strong but not exaggerated arms, and it was difficult to understand how he did it.
The staff officer fiddled with the buttons on the communicator, and then suddenly said something. "Almost."
When he finished speaking, the violent gunfire stopped, the driver suddenly turned sharply, the orc engine also suffered from tire bursts under the fire, the engine smoked, the weak points of the armor were beaten into a hornet's nest, and there were various problems such as the death of the Grot. And it broke down and stopped suddenly, causing the driver to dodge again and again.
But judging from the driver's proficiency, it seemed that this was not the first time. Alan Beyer took off the shooting goggles and yawned. "What channel is it today? Staff officer."
The staff officer replied. "Station 7, basically all the orcs around here have been killed." The staff officer stepped out of the car, wearing a scarf on his head, and fired at the parked car of the orcs, one after another, regardless of whether they were injured or not, whether they could move or not. Regardless of whether they surrender or not, even the corpses will be shot to make those things pretending to die scream.
This is what the Emperor's explosive bombs do. With just one shot, they can penetrate the skin and muscles of the orcs, hit their core, and then explode. The orcs hit by the staff also died ugly.
Finally, the crew turned around and pointed the promethium flamethrower at the Orc vehicle. And because it was lunch time, the people took out cans and watched while eating, and the flames were sprayed. There were also a few living or dying Orcs hiding in the vehicle. Inside, there were those wailing screams and the smell of burning and carbonized muscles.
More villains than villains, that's probably what it feels like, but the Empire is not a good thing in the first place. For humans, they have to do their best to survive. They can only do this, this is all they can do.
There is no way to judge what is right or wrong or moral in this cruel universe. Alan Bayer thought so and put the can he had just opened on the pipe of the flamethrower to heat it. The orc wanted to burn it thoroughly and spray it for a while. According to His experience is enough to make this delicious canned food emit oil.
Others chose to put the can on the hood of the car. Anyway, there are no living things in this world, and there are no so-called vultures.
The staff officer looked around with a telescope and waited for his lunch to be heated by natural energy. The stars also served their "masters" conscientiously. At least that's what Alan Bayer thought. He had a bit of Ah Q's spirit. He was obviously very interested in this universe. To me, they are nothing.
Alan Bayer picked up the oily canned meat, chewed it gently with starch stained pieces, and stared at the auspicious device. But he actually noticed something just now, that is, the orcs seemed to be deliberately avoiding the points near the West District. He suspected This may be close to the enemy camp.
During this period, the traitor Space Marines carried out several relocations and guerrilla warfare to maintain mobility and concealment, which also prevented Alan Bair from finding their base. At this time, almost two days have passed since such a large-scale encirclement and suppression, and the entire wilderness Almost all of it had been explored by the Imperial Guard, and the location of the enemy was gradually becoming clearer.
Alan Beyer thinks it’s almost done. "After eating, we will explore to the west." He said this, stirring up the soft meat. If he can solve all the problems from today to tomorrow, then he can start planning how to take back the Pangia sub-sector. Planned.
Although he is not a navy, there is no doubt that land forces will be one of the core of the operation.
Taking back a planet for the Emperor would make humanity's life in this universe a little easier, so he would not hesitate in this matter.
When the last piece of starch stained with meat juice entered his stomach, he shouted. "Start, target the west, carpet search, staff, contact other members of our reconnaissance company."
"That's almost it. Start the engine, sing the hymn, follow the Imperial Infantry Prayer Guide, maintain the best condition, and then approach that way."
After Alan Bair's order ended, the soldiers of the Imperial Guard began to prepare in an orderly manner. Prayers and the roar of engines slowly surrounded the narrow space of the car body.
"Reduce the speed, hide forward, and move forward slowly relying on the craters and protrusions." Alan Bayer leaned out of the car body and started to investigate the situation here with a telescope. The auspicious device on the car body was also exploring the situation here all the time. .
But it seems quiet here, so quiet that it feels like an ordinary, empty hot wilderness.
The car body moved forward for about two hours, almost reaching the occupied area of the Mechanicus city. It was so far away that it exceeded the area where the orcs often appeared. This was not a place for battleships to land, even for the most trustworthy staff officer. The people from Alan Bair also had to ask. "Are there really enemies of the Empire here?"
It's not surprising that he doubted such a thing, after all, nothing could be covered up in this endless wilderness, but Alan Bayer was still looking at the map here with all his concentration.
"No, no, the orcs are definitely in this direction..."
Alan Bair has no doubts about the methods he learned from a certain Imperial Guard colonel. Anyway, he has not suffered in this area yet. As long as the number of enemies is large enough and the data they bring is enough, he can one day analyze it. , but it seems to be wrong at the moment...
Are there too few enemies? The orcs killed by the Imperial Guard in the past two days could feed a single hive world for a long time, which is a lot, but why is this wilderness still so quiet, even a little cautious.
His intuition felt that something was wrong here, but after the vehicle walked around this place for three or four times, he could only give up. Although there were idealistic things related to psychic energy in this world, he could not follow his intuition in everything. .
However, both the intuition and the physical location speculation here met the requirements, but no enemy was seen. This matter still made Alan Bayer a little concerned.
"Leave one of the servo skulls behind and tell him to bury it in the sand and wait."
said the staff officer. "It will burn out, and the sand will easily sink into its neurons. Running the miniature anti-gravity engine for a long time will cause a lot of burden."
Alan Beyer replied. "Bury it. It will be cut off if there is no situation three hours after we leave. During this time, we will build a command camp nearby to monitor the skull images. Of course, we will also cut off if the temperature is too high."
The staff officer said doubtfully. "Isn't the cost too high? A set of related equipment and a servo skull may lose everything."
Skulls are the legacy of loyalists. They are made of complex machinery and endless injections, so that the donors can still devote themselves to the empire after death. In a certain aspect, Alan Bair's plan is to find a loyalist. He risked his own death in exchange for vague clues.
And any resources are also cherished treasures for the empire. They are the emperor's currency. Even officers cannot squander it. This time, the staff officer stood in front of Alan Bair and said. "No, Captain."
Alan Bayer looked at the seemingly empty wilderness in the distance, and then looked at the drawing with three arcs in his hand. Did he trust his own plan or the judgment of his staff?
He didn't quite know that the Chief of Staff of the Imperial Guard in front of him had followed him to so many places, defeated many enemies, and defeated countless nightmares of the empire. Although he often paralyzed himself, even Alan Bair forgot, Staff officer is a position that exists for the sake of the empire.
"I understand, this time I plan..."
"I won't give up. I have to believe in my own inspiration and my own choices. If I don't do it, things will get worse. Staff officer, give me the communicator!" His eyes were firm and his tone did not drift. Staff officer also answered.
"No...I'll do it. If there's nothing really weird about this, and if you don't find heretics or aliens, I'll record this plan intact, and then hand it over to Terra's Military Affairs Headquarters after the war. ." the staff officer replied.
Alan Bayer is a little unhappy. He has been emphasizing that he must have clean hands and feet if he wants to spend his old age peacefully, but the people closest to him are like this. However, the staff still did not withdraw, which shows that he trusts Alan Baier's judgment.
The staff officer took out his servo skull and said. "It is BT-34721, my former comrade, use it."
Alan Bair looked at this severely modified suspended bone, and the empire's heavenly eye could feel the heaviness in it, but he quickly came back to his senses. He believed in his own judgment, no matter when and where...or in other words, He must believe.
The staff man manipulated the skull to bury it in the heat and gravel, doing this as secretly as possible, even if it looked stupid from the outside, like a war with the air.
The Imperial Guard vehicles also slowly drove away. Not far away, about a few hundred meters away, a simple fully enclosed tent began to be used to set up a temporary command point that was so hot that people were dehydrated to connect the skull monitor.
It took two hours to set up the camp, and the remaining monitoring time was only one hour. No one knew whether there would be any changes in this time, but Alan Bair did not want the loyalist's skull to be damaged by him.
The engineering team is constantly adjusting the images and transistors. Compared with the holographic projection equipment often used in the command room, this is just an ordinary LCD screen with unclear target size, length, and depth. It is even black and white. , even though it is simple, it is better than being portable.
Covered by a thick all-terrain sealed tent, the indoor temperature reached around 34°C, which was probably distillation. Water molecules would not dissipate as fast as outside, but the sweltering heat made people more susceptible to heatstroke, even for correspondents. It has to be changed every ten minutes, or even five minutes.
But Alan Bayer and the staff officer just let the sweat flow down their foreheads as if nothing was wrong. They just kept staring at the screen that was not bright enough and covered with gravel on the edge, as if the skull was his head.
Drinking water one glass at a time, he could barely relieve his consumption. In just one hour, Alan Bayer was unwilling to give up any opportunity, not to mention that his skull was also enduring the terrible temperature.
As time passes, the skull's heat resistance begins to get worse and worse. The temperature outside may be around 40-50 degrees Celsius, which is enough to melt the core of a small electronic device that is running, not to mention that it is still buried under the scorching heat. In the gravel that has been baked for a day, the fact that it has not broken down for so long is already a gift from the machine soul, and the people in the engineering department can only comment on it this way.
"Captain, it's almost done, there's no time."
Alan Bayer looked at the screen eagerly, still without saying a word. He wanted to delay this longer because he didn't want to return in vain, but the staff had reached their limit. "Let my companions come back, that's all. Commander, I order you in the name of the senior chief of staff."
Alan Bayer replied. "Ten minutes, another ten minutes...it's not wrong, but the orcs are still vigilant..."
The staff officer replied. "Stop saying such crazy things. The temperature your skull is enduring is something that a mortal body like yours cannot endure for even a few minutes. It's like a burning flame!"
"Don't let the emperor's clean heirs be abused..." He hesitated for a moment, and then said that sentence. "Stupid pay!"
Alan Bayer's complexion was completely bad. "Stupid...yeah...I'm a little paranoid about getting the skull back..."
"Let it leave the sand..." He gave up. He got his luck and lost his life. He couldn't force things, and nothing would really be smooth sailing... What he couldn't find was just not found.
The staff officer raised his Holy Emblem of Control at this moment. The controller with the kraft paper and the empire's small electronic seal could call the skull back after receiving instructions.
At this moment, the video screen began to fly up staggeringly, but at this moment, whether it was an illusion or reality, an orc vehicle slowly crawled out of the sand dunes in the distance in front of the skull.
Alan Bair shouted in surprise. "Found it!"
The staff officer also immediately stopped calling and looked at the bunkers and concealments made by the heretics that were opened on the screen.
"God Emperor..." He couldn't help but sigh, because he couldn't believe it unless he saw it. Countless orcs were making many terrible war engines out of steel in a hollowed-out hill, orc cans, and those It's nothing, the real horror is a dark metal dragon with a body covered in armor, with a monster dozens of meters high crawling in it.
Alan Bair said immediately. "Found it, this is the thing that made it impossible to start the machine in the entire area that day!" (End of Chapter)